


i am a cold cold man

by aryasbadbenergy



Series: tear in my heart [2]
Category: Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Blood, F/M, Fight Club AU, Fighting, Gendry's POV, Smoking, Smut, don't take the money, gendrya smut, there is a RIDICULOUS amount of smut for the amount of plot i was going for so, ur welcome
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-26
Updated: 2020-04-26
Packaged: 2021-03-01 19:14:05
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,541
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23772127
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aryasbadbenergy/pseuds/aryasbadbenergy
Summary: this a little bit of "don't take the money" through gendry's eyes throughout chapters 6-7! if you haven't read that first i highly recommend you do aha but it could probably read as a stand alone !named for the song "cold cold man" by saint motel!
Relationships: Arya Stark/Gendry Waters
Series: tear in my heart [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1720258
Comments: 23
Kudos: 40





	i am a cold cold man

**Author's Note:**

> happy "don't take the money" anniversary! it's still my fave story to date and i wanted to commemorate it with a little bit of gendry's background that ended up not having a place in the story through's arya's pov! happy reading! (also be prepared for smut and blood! there is a fight in this!)

**Oh, my love**   
**I know, I am a cold cold man**   
**Quite slow to pay you compliments**   
**Or public displayed affections**

**But baby, don't you go over analyze**   
**No need to theorize**   
**I can put your doubts to rest**

**You're the only one worth seeing**   
**The only place worth being**   
**The only bed worth sleeping's the one right next to you**

**Cold Cold Man ~ Saint Motel**

Gendry gives the bag a final hit before grabbing his water bottle and slumping down on the bench. He wipes his brow with his towel and tries to catch his breath for a moment. The Viper sits down right by him. 

If Gendry hadn’t just finished his workout, he probably would’ve gotten up, but he couldn’t seem to find the strength for it yet. 

Gendry didn’t _despise_ the Viper. Surprisingly, enough. The Viper had been around just a little longer than Gendry, and had even taught him the best way to throw a punch. He was nice to Gendry, but he had very seldom held a conversation with the man that didn’t always come back around to the same topic.

“You see the board?” The Viper asks. 

Gendry nods and takes another drink. 

“May the best man win,” he says and holds out a hand to Gendry for a handshake.

“I always win.” Gendry glances at his hand. The Viper gives him a sly smile and drops his hand back into his lap. 

“Ah, that’s true, but I think you’ve been a bit too distracted with your little lady.”

There it was. It always came back to girls. More specifically, Gendry’s lack of them. But the Viper would have had to try not to notice Arya’s—or _Jeyne’s_ , inside the club—presence in his life. 

“You’re always smiling when you see her. And kissing her, too,” Gendry almost blushes at that, but he staves that off. ”I think that all my wife would have to do is convince her to wear a little dress for our fight and I’d finish it in sixty seconds or so.”

Gendry lets out a puff of laughter. “Think I could handle myself,” he says. He lets out a groan as he stands and grabs his towel and water. The Viper chuckles and gives Gendry a pat on the back. 

* * *

“Bull!” The Viper shouts from a table with his wife. Gendry turns at the sound of the voice and steers Arya towards them. “I have been waiting for him to introduce you to us,” he directs at Arya. “But I think we would be stuck waiting around for a very long time, at this point.”

“I’m Jeyne,” Arya says and reaches out a hand for the Viper to shake. The Viper grabs her hand and kisses the back of it. Arya laughs and turns her head to look at Gendry. 

“I didn’t think anyone did that anymore.”

“They don’,” Gendry says. “He’s jus’ very friendly.”

“I’m Oberyn,” he says. “And this is my wife, Ellaria.”

“You’re very beautiful,” Arya blushes a little and opens her mouth kind of like a fish a few times. Gendry doesn’t expect her to be shocked at the compliment. He assumed that she had already known that she was beautiful, but the look on her face suggests that it wasn’t something she heard very often. He makes a mental note to remind her of the fact, later.

“Uh, thank you,” she finally says. “You’re very beautiful, too.” Ellaria smiles. 

“She’s very friendly, too,” Gendry clarifies to Arya. 

“Your boy thinks he can beat me, Jeyne,” the Viper teases.

She turns her head and looks up at Gendry. “He can,” she smiles.

“Really?” the Viper drawls, with a smirk on his face. 

“Really. He’s very strong,” Arya leans into him and Gendry rests an arm around her shoulders.

“Well, I’m very fast,” the Viper argues. 

Arya shakes her head. “I just don’t think that will be enough to win.” Gendry smiles at her quick defense. She had said something quite similar to him before. 

“I think that you’re being underestimated,” Ellaria raises her eyebrows. 

“I think you’re right, Ellaria. I may be getting older, but I am not at all rusty.”

“Oh, come on, old man,” Gendry sighs, but a smile pulls on the corners of his lips and the jest isn’t lost on the Viper. “You can’t beat me.”

“Ah, you are very, very wrong, boy, but it is nice to hear you tease,” he says and turns to Arya. “He’s always so surly, so serious,” the Viper frowns for emphasis. “I’ve known him eleven years and this is the nicest he's ever been to me. I suppose I have you to thank for that.” 

Arya turns to look up at Gendry again and she has the smallest smirk on her face. He leans down to kiss her, and quickly pulls away when the Viper whistles. 

* * *

Gendry unlocks his door as fast as he can and Arya follows him inside, kissing him as soon as his door closes. He grins into her kiss and stumbles forward to press her against the wall. He slides his hand down her waist and reaches the hem of her skirt, pushing past it to grab her thighs. She stands as close to him as she can and he starts to harden against her stomach when she’s grinding against his leg. He tightens his grip on her thighs and pulls her up. She wraps her arms around his neck and Gendry untucks her shirt from her skirt and she unbuttons it as fast as she can. Her thighs sit on the top of his hips and she bites down on his bottom lip for a second before she pulls away from his kiss.

“Will you fuck me here?” she asks and Gendry could die on the spot. He nods and kisses her again. Her fingertips run along the skin just under the hem of his shirt and he pulls away long enough to pull it over his head. Arya looks pleased and drags her nails down his torso. He shoves her skirt up higher so he can spread her legs wider and she tugs the hair at the nape of his neck. He slides one of his hands over to the front of her panties and rubs a small circle on the sensitive flesh over top of them. He pulls the fabric aside and slips a finger into her, bending it towards him. He sets her legs back down and kisses her between her breasts and on the top of her stomach. He presses his tongue to her and Arya tugs his hair some more. He focuses on the way her breath seems to get faster with every movement and pushes another finger in. Arya’s back arches a little and she breathes sharply. 

He moves away from her and stands, and Arya opens her mouth a little to protest. 

“Condom,” he chokes out and hurries to the drawer in his bedroom, trying to get back to her as fast as possible. She’s pulling her panties off when he comes back. He catches her lips in another kiss and steps closer, pinning her against the wall.

She reaches for the button on his jeans, trying to undo it without pulling away, but Gendry starts laughing a little at her and she gives up on trying to do both at the same time. She unzips them and slips her hand down the front of his jeans. “Fuck,” he sighs into her neck She curls her fingers around his cock. Her hands were so much softer than his own. She slides her hand up and down and he has to pull his jeans down. He grabs her wrist and pushes her hand away so he can. Then she drags her tongue along his neck, and Gendry groans. He shoves his jeans and boxers down to his knees. 

She pulls the hem of her skirt up to her belly button while Gendry pulls the condom on. He grabs the back of her thighs to lift her against the wall again and she wraps her legs around his waist. She grasps at his shoulders and grinds her hips forward. He groans into her neck, slipping inside of her. He pulls back, careful to keep her held up, and thrusts forward again, scraping her back on his wall. She works her mouth up his throat, kissing his jaw, and the corner of his mouth. She nips his bottom lip and he thrusts a little harder. He’s grateful that he has no neighbors on the other side of this wall. She meets him with every thrust, holding onto his shoulders like a lifeline, and he squeezes his fingers against her ass. 

And then he doesn’t think that he can really last much longer when Arya’s grinding into him and muttering his name against his lips. He presses his thumb against her clit, rubbing it in quick circles, and thrusts hard into her. She digs her nails into the hard muscle of his shoulders and bites down on her lip to muffle a quiet moan. He grabs her thighs, moving her up higher for a different angle and he has to pause for a moment. He nearly forgets how to breathe. She wiggles her hips to get him to move and Gendry moans, before catching her lips with his own. He starts thrusting again, harder this time, and Arya’s legs somehow wrap tighter around his waist. She pulls away from his kiss, drops her head back to the wall, and her entire body tenses up. She lets out shallow breaths and closes her eyes. She clenches around him and Gendry can only really let out a gruff, “fuck,” as he watches her. He keeps his thumb rolling on her clit and Arya arches her back, biting down on her lip again. A blush creeps down from her cheeks to the tops of her breasts and the way she’s tightening around him draws him even closer than before. He moves his hand away from her cunt, back to her ass, and thrusts a few more times until he’s following her over the edge. 

He pulls out of her, but he could tell she wasn’t ready to be set down back on her feet. He holds her against the wall and kisses her jaw. She breathes deeply and clutches onto his shoulders. He leans down a little to kiss the side of her neck and a muffled moan makes its way out of her throat. He tries to brush his thumb over her clit again, but Arya winces slightly and twists away. “S-sensitive,” she hums. Gendry almost wants to apologize for doing it all too hard, but then Arya kisses him softly and grins. She presses her head to his shoulder and gives him another soft kiss on his collarbone. “That was very nice,” she murmurs. He starts to blush and sets her back down on her feet. And then she giggles a little. 

“What?” 

She smiles wider and leans up to kiss his reddened cheek. “You.”

* * *

“Do you love Jeyne?”

Gendry furrows his eyebrows. “It hasn’ been that long.” He almost messes up the punch he had been aiming for. Maybe it was counterproductive for them to train together since they would know each other’s moves too well for the fight, but they had to put on a show and make it last, somehow. Gendry was used to fixed fights and it would be a lie if he didn’t admit that he was a little nervous. He didn’t want to lose. 

“You can still know if you love her.”

Gendry punches the bag again, a little harder than necessary. Sure, he didn’t hate the Viper. But he didn’t want him thinking that they were friends and that he could ask about Arya. 

“Prove it to her.”

Gendry scowls again. “Why not jus’ tell her?” he asks, humoring whatever fatherly need the Viper felt like he needed Gendry to fulfill by giving him girl advice.

“You’re not the best with words." Gendry shrugs. That is true. “But you need to let her know if you love her.” And Gendry wants to ask _why_ he should let Arya know about his may-be feelings for her, and _why_ the Viper was so knowledgeable on what Gendry should and shouldn’t do after meeting Arya once, but his next comment throws Gendry too off guard to even ask. “You just need fuck her well.” And it pisses him off. Gendry snaps his eyes away from the bag and looks at the Viper. He should probably start paying more attention to where he steps before he even gets in the ring with Gendry.

“Don’t,” Gendry warns. 

“What? Are you scared that she’d be ashamed if I knew? You have your hands all over each other all of the time. It’s no secret. Especially not to me.”

“Drop it.”

“You are way too scared of advice.”

“I don’ need your advice,” Gendry snaps and pulls the tape off of his hands. He drops it in the trashcan and picks up his bag, all with a smirk from the Viper following him. 

“Are you sure you don’t need any tips?”

And all Gendry can think about for a moment is having Arya pressed up against the wall in his apartment the night before. He’s sure.

* * *

Gendry paces around the ring, looking for an opening. The Free Man bares his teeth, trying to be frightening, but Gendry doesn’t pay his show any mind. He lunges forward, but misses the hit. The Free Man is ambidextrous, which means for Gendry that he won’t favor one side. Gendry doesn’t fight him often, but he tried to pay attention to him the past few nights. His head hit the ground pretty hard in a fight with the Mountain a while ago which left him more or less blind in one eye, but Gendry didn’t remember which eye. The Free Man paces around Gendry and Gendry turns with him, trying to pay attention to his next move. The Free Man raises his fist, and Gendry blocks the side of his head before The Free Man can get a hit in. Gendry steps forward again, landing a hit on The Free Man’s right side. He was apparently blinded in the right eye. Gendry could work with that. 

He goes in for another hit, but the Free Man socks him right in the center of his face, and Gendry gets knocked back a few steps at least. He spits some blood out of his mouth and the Free Man gives him a cocky grin. Gendry lunges forward again, hitting him on the right side, and throwing up his other arm to block any hits that the Free Man will try to land. He hits him again, trying to put enough force behind it to knock him down, but the Free Man barely stumbles. 

He sighs a little to himself and punches again, but the Free Man aims for Gendry’s ribs instead of his face with his next hit and Gendry wasn’t prepared for that. He grunts and steps back, but refuses to let the Free Man get the better of him. He hits him back and tries for another punch to his right side before the Free Man can block him. He stumbles back and starts coughing a bit and leans on one knee. Gendry pauses for a moment, waiting for the Free Man to stand back up before he hits him again. He wouldn’t technically be breaking the rules, but it felt wrong to hit him while he was down. Gendry takes a step back to give him some space, but the Free Man sticks out his foot to try and trip Gendry. 

Gendry steadies himself quickly, and hits him square in the jaw when the Free Man stands back up. He didn’t care much to be tricked for trying to be considerate. He punches him in the face again and the Free Man spits blood up at Gendry’s face. He gags internally at the thought, but he wasn’t about to lose over it. He punches him to the right again, getting a slow reaction from it with his blind spot, and then punches him in the stomach. The Free Man finally falls down, and this time he stays down long enough for Gendry to win. 

* * *

Gendry scrubs his face under the shower head. His nosebleed had stopped pretty quickly after his fight, but it had still run down his chin and neck and he probably still had that prick’s blood left somewhere on his face since rinsing his face off in the sink at the club wasn’t really the best method. His knuckles were throbbing and so was his head, but he knows Arya is in his bedroom and probably already taking her clothes off, so he plans to move past the headache pretty quickly. And it was a lot easier to use his mouth instead of his fingers after a fight, so the throbbing in his knuckles wasn’t the biggest obstacle. He rubs soap over his arms and chest quickly and tries to rinse it off even faster. He shuts the water off and grabs his towel, almost rubbing the skin raw from his rushed movements. He dries his hair as much as he can with the towel, and tosses it into his hamper. He opens the door and Arya looks up from the laces she’s tugging out of her shoes. She kicks them off and walks forward to kiss him. 

“I was a little worried during that fight,” she admits.

“Yeah?”

She nods. “He seemed like he was getting a few good hits in. And I was worried that he broke your nose.”

“S’fine,” he insists. “Doesn’ even hurt,” he lies, and she nods at him, knowing that he wasn’t telling the truth. He kisses her again. “You’ve got too many clothes on,” he teases and pushes the denim jacket off her shoulders. Arya yanks her hands free of the sleeves and he tosses it. 

She undoes the button on her jeans and kicks them off, too, before leaning up to kiss Gendry again, cupping his cheeks in her hands. Her hands were warm and a small part of Gendry wishes they could stay like this forever. 

He wasn’t lying when he told the Viper that it was too early to love her, but he had never felt this way about anyone else before. And that was scary and exciting at the same time. He clutches the back of her neck, holding her to his kiss for a little while longer. He nudges her towards his bed and she sits down. She looks up at him and the way Arya is smiling at him makes him feel crazy. He felt like he had only just met her, but still, she knew him better than anyone else. He leans over to kiss her again and tugs off her shirt. He pulls away for it to come off and chuckles at how far she has to crane her neck back up for the kiss. She squeezes her nails into his chest in retaliation. Gendry kisses her neck, fighting off the desire to scrape his teeth on the sensitive flesh. She asked him not to because of the marks, but she enjoyed it so much every time he did that it was hard to part with. He kisses her bottom lip and she spreads her legs for him to lay between. He shifts to kneel down in front of her instead and kisses her bare thigh. She pushes her panties down and Gendry stops kissing her for her to pull them off. He kisses her knee and pulls her leg onto his shoulder. He slides his hand up her stomach and Arya grabs onto his hand, holding it in place. He slides his tongue over her thigh until she tilts her hips and whines, sending the sound straight to his cock. He leans down to press his tongue to her and Arya buries her face into his pillow. She grabs his sheets with her other hand so tight, it’s a wonder that she doesn’t rip them from the bed. He inches his hand up her body, pushing under her bra. He wishes he would have pulled that off, too, but promises that it’s the first thing he’ll do when he’s finished. He moves his tongue against her, relishing in the way she pants and squirms. He grabs her nipple, squeezing it between his fingers and Arya clenches her thighs tight over his head. Gendry looks back up at her and her eyes are shut tight and her face is covered in a blush as red as her discarded shirt. He frees his hand from her grasp and runs his fingers along the bottom of her thigh. She releases his head a little to let him reach between them.

She’s still trying to catch her breath when Gendry moves up to kiss her a few minutes later. He sits down by her on his bed and she sits up, wrapping her hands around his arm. She kisses the back of his shoulder and Gendry pulls a condom out of the drawer. He turns to grab the back of her bra and unhooks it. Arya pulls it off and tosses it somewhere in his room. She kisses the front of his chest and works her way down to his stomach. She runs her tongue down the dip of his hip and Gendry can only stare at the enticing sight. She grabs his cock and wraps her mouth around it. Her nails drag their way across his hip, while Gendry moans and reaches for her head to bury his fingers in her braid. She pushes her mouth down and hollows her cheeks. She moves her mouth back up, releasing him with a pop. He moans again when she drags her tongue down his cock. She covers him with her mouth again and Gendry bites down on his fist. He didn’t want to come already, but he didn’t want Arya to stop either. 

“Arya,” he sighs and she pulls away. She kisses his hip again and stares up at him for a moment. She takes the condom and opens it, before rolling it on him. Gendry pulls the ponytail out of her hair and runs his fingers through the ends of the braid to loosen it. Arya sits up and pulls it undone. He runs a hand through it and she moves closer to him. He pulls her down for a kiss and flips them over, careful not to crush her when he rolls. 

She shifts her legs, bending them at his hips. He kisses her again and groans when she reaches for his cock. “Fuck,” he mutters, and slides his hips forward. She shuts her eyes for a moment and her lips part, so fucking perfectly. She crosses her ankles behind his back and he peppers kisses down her throat, wanting to bite it all over again. He settles for the side of her breast and Arya drags her nails over his scalp, tugging a little on his hair. She tilts her hips towards him and drags a thigh along his hip, reaching a hand between them. Her wrist drags against his stomach and Gendry groans against her soft skin. 

And then Gendry is sure that she is going to kill him because not ten minutes later, she bites down so slightly on the tip of his finger and just stares at him. He doesn’t think that she was so far off now when she told him that he wouldn’t be able to keep up.

* * *

“Yer here for a big night,” Gendry spits. “The Mountain is going to fight the Viper!” He has to shout for her to hear him. He doesn’t like watching the Mountain fight, but he can’t tear himself away from this one. He might even consider Oberyn a friend now, and all this fight is going to do is get him broken bones if he isn’t careful. If he steps outside the ring and blows it before it begins though, Gendry will probably never see the Viper again. Even Ellaria standing across the ring in front of Gendry looks sick, and she loved to watch her husband fight. Because he almost always wins. 

Arya furrows her eyebrows up at him and Gendry can only let out a sigh and watch the Viper follow the Mountain into the ring. She cranes her neck around the people blocking her and Gendry pulls her in front of him. She laces her fingers into his, squeezing it.

“Can speed really beat strength?”

Gendry squeezes Arya’s hand back. That was probably rehearsed for his fight with the Viper, but it had been a last minute decision to make the Viper fight the Mountain instead. He watches intently as the fight starts and Oberyn dances around the ring a little, trying to find a good spot to hit. Gendry had only fought the Mountain once and he didn’t fight again for much longer than Roose would’ve liked. Having to fight the Mountain was a common threat, now. 

Oberyn’s plan starts to work, miraculously, and he is even able to land a hit on the Mountain. He steps forward again for another hit, and the Mountain grabs him. He grunts and slams Oberyn down and Gendry’s vision turns red. He almost steps forward before he realizes how much blood is pooling around Oberyn and running outside of the ring. Ellaria screams and rushes forward towards him and Gendry reaches for Arya’s wrist. 

“Arya,” he chokes out. “Arya, we have to go,” and he pulls on her arm again. She’s frozen in place. “Someone’s gonna call the police. We can’t do anythin',” he murmurs to her. “We can’t do anythin'. We have to go.”

* * *

"I was s’posed to fight him. The Viper," Gendry mumbles, even though she already knew. He just wants to say it, to process it. Oberyn may have been annoying as hell sometimes, but he meant well. He was a good man, still. He didn’t deserve to die. Especially not like that.

"I know." Her voice is soft and small and Gendry feels like he should’ve protected her and shouldn’t have let her watch that. 

"But then that stupid fucking L-” He cuts himself off. He could be angry, but he couldn’t start giving names, too. Unless he wants to end up like Oberyn. “They made him fight The Mountain instead last night." 

"They shouldn't have,” she mumbles. 

"I know. Oberyn was always a good fighter. He only lost a few times. But the Mountain fights dirty. He always has."

It made Gendry sick. He didn’t understand why the Mountain was still allowed to fight. He nearly paralyzed the Knight of the Flowers last winter and blinded the Free Man in one eye. Not that the Free Man hadn’t deserved that one. 

"I hate it," Gendry drags a hand down his face. "Fighting. I fucking hate it."

"I know,” she reaches out and rests her hand on his cheek. 

"I want out. I just fucking want out. I try and I try and I can't get out." The words forced their way out of his throat. He couldn’t stand having to pretend with her that he enjoyed fighting. 

"Why not?"

"They don't want me to go. They only have a handful of fighters that they've kept as long as they've kept me. I've only lost a few fights, and two I lost on purpose in the hopes that they might just let me go,” he admits. He regretted those blown fights, now.

"But they didn't." 

Gendry shakes his head. "They don't."

"Have you tried just leaving?" Arya asks.

Gendry shifts and rolls his shoulders a little. "Yeah. Didn't work out," he mutters. She runs her thumb along his cheekbone.

"What'd they do?"

Gendry sucks in a breath. "Bad things." He didn’t like to think about that either. He had never even told anyone about it. 

He had been doing well enough to leave. He had saved up almost ten thousand dollars and was planning on skipping town and starting over somewhere new, but when he came home after what was supposed to be his last fight, his apartment had been broken into and all of the money was stolen. And Apollo was dead. 

Gendry had loved his dog. He got him right after having to fight the Mountain, after he had started getting scared and decided he wanted to leave. Having Apollo helped him sleep better since he didn’t think anyone was gonna try to attack him in the middle of the night when Apollo slept at the end of his bed and was almost eighty pounds of muscle. But they didn’t want to attack him since they needed him to fight still. They just wanted to scare him into staying. “It makes it easy if you don’t have anything to lose,” he sighs. 

"You have Shireen," Arya protests. 

"Shireen," he whispers. "Shireen is the daughter of a lawyer and she's in school to be a doctor. The only thing that makes us alike is our eyes.” And maybe it was mean to say, but it was true. Shireen would never understand the type of life he lives. He’s never told her about the fights, and he doesn’t plan to. 

"Don't say that. Shireen loves you," Arya mutters and she scowls at him. 

"I know, I know. I love her, too. I didn’t always have her, though. So after my mom, it was easy to get a couple hundred dollars just for whalin' on someone. I didn’t have anyone that could get hurt.” And he needed the money. 

“What does that mean?”

“Do you know one of the little blonde girls that fights? Mhaegan?” Arya nods after a moment, and he probably shouldn’t be telling her this, but he can’t seem to stop. “She has a baby girl, and she tried to leave the ring a few months ago. She's been there for a few years now, and loses a lot of times, so she’s an easy win in a fixed match. They threatened her baby, and she knew better than to involve any police, so she's still fightin'. She told someone in the club that she had a baby, but if she hadn’t, then they wouldn’t be able to threaten her with someone that mattered.” Gendry couldn’t blame her for that. After a while, the fighters can get close, but it was hard to tell who would be willing to turn on you to protect themselves. It was easier not to know any of them. He didn’t even like to tell anyone what his name was. “I’m lucky that no one knows 'bout Shireen. Shireen and I didn't know we were family until our uncle saw one of my fights and all he could think was that I was my father's ghost."

"I thought that you didn't know who your father was?” She asks and reaches for his hand. She runs her thumb along his knuckles.

"I didn't. He died 'fore Renly found me. I'm Robert Baratheon's son."

Arya's eyes widen a little. She stops moving her thumb. 

"How old were you then?"

"Nineteen. Renly pulled me aside and kept askin’ me all these questions and after a few nights I asked him what the fuck he wanted from me. I feel shitty about it now, but I had seen him go 'round with the Knight of the Flowers at the club and told him I wasn't interested. Renly laughed and told me that he thought I was his nephew."

"And what did you say?" Arya asks. 

"I told him to fuck off," Gendry winces. Renly was kind of a dick, but he had answered a few of the more pressing questions Gendry had, so Gendry was a little grateful for it. "But then he kept comin' back and I was so sick of talkin' to him that I just agreed to one of those tests. Turns out Renly was right." Arya gives him a soft smile. "My tattoo," Gendry starts and turns to his side. He brings up the hem of his shirt and pulls it over his head to reveal his shoulder. "I had the Stag lines put on the glove when I found out. For my dad, I guess. He used to box back in his day. Legally. Went by 'The Stag.'" 

"Ours is the fury?" Arya asks. 

Gendry nods. "Renly said it was somethin' he used to say after his fight.” 

"Oh." And it’s a soft reply, barely a breath, and it made him feel foolish. He wasn’t used to feeling like he needed to explain anything to anyone, especially not his tattoos.

"Ya think it's stupid, don't ya? I never met him, but I got a tattoo for him and don't even know if he wanted me or not," Gendry sighs. 

"I don't think it's stupid. And you don't know if he wanted you, but you also don't know that he _didn't_ want you," Arya says and he can’t help it but to smile a little. 

Gendry lets out a puff of laughter. "Technicalities," he teases. He rolls onto his back again and puts his arm around Arya. She nuzzles her head into his neck.

"M’sorry ya had to see that tonight," Gendry mumbles.

"I've seen worse," Arya admits.

"Whaddaya mean?"

Arya shrugs. He wonders if it’s about her scars, but she had yet to open up about them and he doesn't want to force into it.

"Oberyn didn't deserve that," she says. 

"No.” Gendry shakes his head. “He didn'." And Gendry is angry that he had to die in that fucking hellhole and not sitting on a porch somewhere, old with Ellaria at his side.

* * *

Gendry didn’t want to go back the next night. But he didn’t fight last night, and he couldn’t not show up for a fight. Not unless he wanted to fight the Mountain, too. 

“It’s fucking horrible,” Mya whispers. “They barely finished cleaning up his blood and opened it back up.” Gendry nods and rolls his shoulder. He didn’t want to think about it too much, though. “What do you think happened to his body?” 

Gendry shakes his head. “I’ve no idea.” He doesn’t want to think about that either. Oberyn deserved a funeral, but he wouldn’t get one to protect the club. He runs a hand down his face and tries to block out Mya. He really couldn't think about him, anymore.

He looks out into the crowd and sees Arya. He gives her a small smile. Gendry doesn’t like being too public with her, but he still leans down to kiss her, quickly, ignoring Edric’s whistle. He almost looks up, expecting to see Oberyn mocking him.

Arya shifts to whisper something in his ear. "There's gonna be a raid tonight," she warns.

Gendry pulls back and furrows his eyebrows at her. "How do ya know?"

"My brother's a cop. You have to warn the others," she says. He wants to ask her more questions, especially about why her brother would have told her about the raid, but he nods and pulls Mya and Edric aside to warn them. He can ask her about it later. 

He scans the crowd, trying to think of another fighter that he would want to warn. Mhaegan was here somewhere, and he searches for her. Arya follows close behind him, which probably isn’t a good idea. He doesn’t want anyone to think that she was the rat responsible for the raid, especially since she is an outsider, but he’s not leaving her side with a raid coming. He doesn’t see Mhaegan, or the new girl that she is supposed to fight inside, so he pulls Arya out into the hallway. 

He leads her down the hallway towards the locker room. When he pushes past the door, Arya tenses up. “Am I allowed in here?”

“No. Just don’ let anyone see ya,” he teases. Mhagan sits with the new girl, the Bear, he thinks, or something like that, and shows her how to wrap her hands up, right. 

“Mhaegan,” he asks. She looks up. “Anyone else in here?”

“Nope.”

“There’s gonna be a raid tonight.” He looks at the young girl sitting with her. She couldn’t have been any older than he was when he had her first fight. “Find Mhaegan when it’s time to get out,” he instructs. She nods. 

He leads Arya back to the bar and sits down with her. She shifts from leg to leg in front of him. “Why isn’t anybody leaving?” she asks. 

“If we all leave at once, people will get suspicious. We just need to be prepared for when it’s time.” She nods. “I’m getting a beer. Do you want anything?” Arya shakes her head. He turns around for a minute, but then Arya shoves against him. “What the fuck?”

He turns to watch her smack a hand away from her ass and he stands. “Hey!” He wraps an arm around Arya’s waist and steps closer to Locke. Little greasy haired prick. 

“Sorry,” Locke mutters. 

"Oh, sorry? Keep yer hands off my girl," Gendry growls. 

"I didn't know she was your girl," the guy bites back. Gendry's hand forms a fist at his side. He could punch him. It would be very easy and something that he had already wanted to do for a long time, especially after what he did to Brienne. But Arya grabs his wrist. 

"Hey, it's fine," she mutters to him. The guy walks away while he still has a chance and Arya rolls her eyes at Gendry. She pushes his hand off of her hip and turns to look at him. "So, as long as I don't belong to somebody, it's okay for someone else to touch me?" She snaps. Gendry stares at her for a moment. 

"I didn't say that," he protests. He didn’t mean that either, but he was trying to intimidate Locke. 

"I know that you didn't say it, but you implied it! I can take care of myself, too, you know! I'm not a fucking infant!" She has to yell to be heard over the sound in the club. 

He sits back down on the barstool and leans forward to her ear. "M'sorry," he murmurs. "I know ya can take care of yourself, but I just like to… I just like to be there for ya," he says. 

Arya nods and rests her hand on his knee. "I know," she sighs. Gendry smiles at her and presses his lips to her cheek. She runs a hand through her hair and sighs. "It's okay,” she says. “You were just looking out for me." He nods. He would try not to do it again. Unless it was Locke. Then he will definitely deck him in the face. 

"Do ya wanna come back to my place when we leave?" He asks. Arya nods and he gives her a small smile. He pulls on her arm to pull her closer to him and she stands between his legs. She reaches for his hand and she focuses on tracing the lines of his palm. He relaxes his hand so she can trace his fingers and he presses his other hand to her cheek. He tugs her bottom lip free from her teeth and she looks back up to him. "Ya do that when you're nervous," he observes. "Don't be nervous. We'll get out just fine," he promises and smiles reassuringly. But then one man shouts that they’ve been tipped about a raid and people start to panic. The man points to the entrance for people to start leaving and the crowd gets tighter as people try to race to the exit.

“We need to go now,” she insists and Gendry nods as he stands from the stool. Arya grabs his hand and follows him out of the crowd of people trying to get out the entrance. He pulls her into a hallway back behind the bar and behind a door that leads up to a second set of stairs where some of the other fighters are already climbing. 

"I didn't know this was back here," Arya says. Gendry makes her go ahead of him and releases her hand to grab her elbow. 

"Nobody does. That's the point," Mya scoffs. "You're not supposed to let other people back here.” And it’s true, he really wasn’t supposed to, but he trusted Arya to keep this set of stairs secret. 

"She's my girlfriend. I wasn't just gonna leave her to get out by herself."

"Oh. I thought she was just some girl."

Gendry's jaw clenches a little and he breathes out a huff through his nose. "I don't do that," he argues. And Mya knew that too, but she still said it in front of Arya. Mya shrugs and opens the door at the top of the stairs. "Go through there," she says to Arya, and points to the backdoor at the end of the hallway. Gendry lets go of her arm. He follows her outside and scowls at Mya when he passes her. She was his half-sister, but they didn’t bring it up ever again after finding out. She wanted nothing to do with Renly and Stannis, and Gendry understood that. He didn’t really care for them, either, but he loved Shireen. 

“I don’t do that,” Gendry says. And he guesses that it doesn't really matter, since he's with her now and no one else, but he has to make sure she knows the truth. "She made it sound like I do, but I don't." He leads her down the alley towards his apartment and Arya shrugs. 

"I didn't ask.”

"I know that ya didn't, but in case ya wondered, I don't." He wasn’t sure how to actually admit his feelings for her, but he wanted to make it clear that he liked her, a lot. 

Arya reaches for his hand again. She laces their fingers and brings his hand up to her lips to kiss his knuckles. "I know. I thought you might for a while, but you made it clear that you don't." 

And he thinks he might melt looking at her. He smiles.

* * *

She grabs the backrest of the couch, grinding her hips forward. He leans down to grab her nipple with his mouth. Arya gasps and squeezes her thighs around him. He moves her hair over her shoulder and out of his way, and Arya tilts her head back. And then he wants to kiss her neck, too, and her other breast, and her lips. He digs his fingers into her ass, grinding her over him, and kisses her throat. 

“I think you’re beautiful,” he blurts. It was easier than admitting he could be in love with her. She stills and leans up. She stares into his eyes and Gendry doesn’t dare back down from his confession. She crashes into him for a kiss. He tries to tell her with the kiss, too, what he can’t say out loud. Arya rolls her hips again. 

He almost falls asleep on his couch after, needing to catch up on sleep from the restless night before, but Arya rouses him and makes him go to his bed with her. He’s grateful for her care for him and his back.

* * *

Gendry doesn’t snoop. He sits on his couch and drinks his coffee, while Arya showers, but when he stands up he sees some silver box that fell out of her bag. He sets his coffee cup on his counter and walks over to put it back in her bag, but when he picks it up, he flips it over in his hand to look at the buttons he had felt. 

It was a fucking recorder.

He sits back down on his couch and looks at the device again. He hadn’t asked yet about why her brother told her about the raid. And then he started thinking about how she had asked about Roose before and the fact that she lied about her name. The fact that she even went to the club and he knew she hated fighting. He had assumed she kept coming back to see him, but now he knew that wasn't the reason. He covers his mouth with his hand and presses the play button. It’s a muffled mix of voices for a few minutes, but then he hears Arya’s voice cut through it and say, “there’s gonna be a raid tonight.” 

And then his “How do ya know?”

“My brother’s a cop--” he shuts it off. He can’t listen to it anymore. He thinks about everything he’s stupidly told her. Was she meant to spy on him for Roose? Or even Lannister? Was she a cop? The door to his bathroom creaks open and Gendry looks up at Arya. She runs a hand through her wet hair and smiles as she walks towards him. She leans down to give him a kiss, but he moves away. “How did yer brother know to tell ya about the raid?" He mutters. Arya furrows her eyebrows. 

"What?" He looks up at her and squares his jaw. He flips the recorder between his hands and Arya sighs when she sees it. "It's not-"

"What the fuck is this?" He hisses. “It fell outta yer bag.” Arya takes a step back from him.

"It's a microcassette recorder. It records sound," she admits, softly.

"Yeah, no shit, Sherlock. I just heard my fucking voice on it," he snaps and stands from the couch. "Why d’ya have it? You a fucking cop?" Was she meant to get them arrested? It would be easy now that she knew so many of the other fighters through him. 

"No!"

"So, you just been spying! On the club, then? On me?" Gendry's voice rises to a shout. If the recordings were for Roose or someone else inside the club, this could get him killed. He swallows a bit of bile in his throat. 

"No! I'm just a journalist! I was writing an article on the club!"

"So everything with me was what, then? Part of this?” Gendry tosses the recorder to the ground. It skids across the floor. “Part of your fucking article?" Every time she kissed him, and fucked him, and smiled at him was just to write her fucking article? That's all that he was to her? A piece of her story?

"No," she denies, "no, that's not true!"

"Then what? I liked ya! I really fucking liked ya and then I find out that yer just-- ya were using me!"

"I didn't use you!" She shouts. "I never used anything personal that you told me!" But how could he really believe that? Everything she knew about the club had to have come from him, because he’s just a stupid boy that seriously believed she could love him, too. 

Gendry turns away from her and he tugs on his hair. He groans in frustration and Arya reaches out to him. She touches his back, softly, and tries to speak again, but Gendry turns back to her and shoves her hand away. 

"Don't fucking touch me! I'm not your story, Arya! I'm a person!" Gendry's eyes start to burn. He wasn’t about to let her know that she had hurt him. "Get out! Get the fuck out! I don't--" Gendry drags his hands down his face. "If anyone found out that I told you shit..." His voice is quieter now and he trails off. 

"Gendry--" She begs again.

"Get out." Arya stares at him. He grabs her bag from by his feet and thrusts it at her chest. She grabs it. "Get out! I don't wanna fucking see ya again! Don't come to the club. Don't call me," he hisses. Her bottom lip quivers and she bites down on it. 

"I'm sorry," she whispers and Gendry turns away from her. 

"I don't fucking care," he mutters. Arya grabs the recorder. 

She steps out the door and Gendry watches her shut the door. He goes behind her and locks it. He thought she cared about him. So fucking stupid. He grabs his pack of cigarettes.

* * *

Gendry looks at the board. He had been switched out of his fight with the Knight of the Flowers and replaced with a name he didn’t know. He lets out a long sigh. 

Gendry walks towards the ring, rolling his shoulders. He stops when he sees the redheaded boy walk into the ring. Gendry had told Roose he wouldn’t fight him. But the club had been shut down for a week, and they were gonna use his fight with someone a hundred pounds smaller to make the money back. He’s not winning this fight. He won’t. He’s probably gonna need to leave town because of the article, anyway. He might as well fuck Roose over first.

Gendry turns to look at the boy when they get in the ring. He looks way too scared for someone who has insisted that he could fight. “Hit me.”

The boy shakes his head. “I’m not supposed to win—“

“Hit me.”

The referee steps out of the ring and the small boy throws a punch. Gendry steps out of the way and he doesn't make any moves to hit the boy. He doesn’t want to see the look on Roose’s face right now wherever he is. He warned Roose. 

Gendry stops stepping out of the way for hits, and lets the boy hit him a few times, before halfheartedly throwing a punch. The boy groans at the hit, but it barely slows him down. 

Gendry doesn’t block his head, and lets the boy hit him right in the side of it. It hurt more than he thought it would have. 

The boy socks Gendry in the jaw, harder than he expected, but he would’ve held up fine in any other fight. Gendry stumbles backwards for a few steps, anyway. The boy takes his chance and hits Gendry again, and sticks his leg out to trip him. Gendry falls backwards and lays down. 

Roose is at his side now, smacking the ground outside of the ring. 

"Get up! Fucking get up, you useless piece of shit! Get up!" People in the crowd start screaming along. No one expected him to lose this fight. Gendry looks up at Roose and stares him down. He taps the ground with his hand. The referee holds up the boy's arm, and Gendry starts to stand before Roose grabs the back of his neck. Gendry could push him off easily, but Roose still wanted to try to assert dominance. 

"What the hell was that?" He shouts. He has to scream into Gendry’s ear to be heard over the crowd roaring at Gendry. He shrugs. 

"I told you I wasn't gonna fight him, Roose," he hisses and shoves Roose’s hand off his neck to stand up. Gendry shoves past people in the crowd as they scream at him and try to get in his face. 

"Get back here! Bull!" Gendry doesn't turn around.

**Author's Note:**

> happy anniversary! i hope you all enjoyed this little oneshot!! please tell me your fave part!!


End file.
